


petty revenges

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bickering, Complicated Relationships, Humor, Love Confessions, M/M, Past Poe Dameron/Terex, Pettiness, Pining, Poe Being an Asshole, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Terex Being an Asshole, mild crack, mild misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9473099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: Of course, the last time they crossed paths, Poe hadn’t had a reason to initiate it, that very important, very fundamental-to-not-generating-valid-anger-in-one’s-former-whatever talk, Finn having not yet become a fixture in Poe’s life and all. So Poe had ended the encounter the way he always did: by planting a bug and a tracker in Terex’s stuff and leaving behind a false trail for him to sniff around, one that led Terex back to some First Order annoyance or other that he would take umbrage with and handle on Poe’s behalf—even if he didn’t know why he was doing it. That was their system, their understanding, the foundation upon which their relationship was built. Strangely enough, it worked for them.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jiokra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiokra/gifts).



“You might consider being a little less transparent in your affections, Commander Dameron,” Terex said, wafting his hand through the air in what he probably considered an elegant gesture. Considering the mishmash of stormtrooper regalia he wore, he would need a whole lot more than a wave of the hand to reach _elegance_. “It makes you seem so very… obvious.”

“Buddy, you’re wearing, like, five different sets of armor right now. I don’t think you’ve got much room to talk.” Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and gestured with pained graciousness between his old… whatever and his new, entirely different… whatever. “Finn, meet Lord Agent Terex of Planet No One Gives A Shit, formerly of the First Order Security Bureau, formerly an Imperial Nobody that another Imperial Nobody once betrayed and now he’s got a chip on his shoulder about the size of the pauldron he’s wearing that he’s decided to take out on me at every possible opportunity. Lord Agent Terex _blah blah blah_ , this is Finn. And that tractor beam you’ve got installed isn’t very friendly, Terex, I’ve gotta say.” Poe craned his neck to stare at the _Carrion Spike’s_ terrible little docking bay. He hoped he’d find a weakness. Unfortunately, all he saw was a pristine bay that offered nothing in the way of escape opportunities. Not that it would matter with that tractor beam. Even if they got out, Terex could probably pull them back in again.

 _If only we’d thought to bring the_ Falcon _out for this little exploratory mission,_ Poe thought, regretful. _He never could’ve got us in the hold_. “And neither is that blaster. You mind putting it away?”

“This old thing?” Terex waved the weapon around in demonstration because he was an asshole and because he was determined to showboat and maybe even because Poe had slighted him in a way that he couldn’t quite forgive. Poe wasn’t sure on that last point. With Finn in the room with them, he couldn’t get a good read on Terex’s situation. The only thing he knew for sure was this was likely to go wrong or worse.

They hadn’t exactly had the ‘we can’t do this anymore’ talk after all. And they’d really needed to what the ‘we can’t do this anymore’ talk.

Of course, the last time they crossed paths, Poe hadn’t had a reason to initiate it, that very important, very fundamental-to-not-generating-valid-anger-in-one’s-former-whatever talk, Finn having not yet become a fixture in Poe’s life and all. So Poe had ended the encounter the way he always did: by planting a bug and a tracker in Terex’s stuff and leaving behind a false trail for him to sniff around, one that led Terex back to some First Order annoyance or other that he would take umbrage with and handle on Poe’s behalf—even if he didn’t know why he was doing it. That was their system, their understanding, the foundation upon which their relationship was built. Strangely enough, it worked for them. With a flourish, Terex finished speaking. “No, I don’t think so.”

Terex always found the bugs and the trackers; if he noticed Poe was handing him targets and leading him around by the nose, too, he’d never said as much. This, too, was part of the system. It also worked exceedingly well.

He wouldn’t even have done it if Terex hadn’t started making a nuisance of himself with the First Order on his own, and an effective one at that. Poe developed soft spots for nuisances all the time. And, well, it had been fun with Terex. Especially since Terex had stopped arresting, punching, and sending goons after him on sight once they’d found a mutually beneficial expression of the unspoken arrangement between them. Poe wouldn’t rat Terex out on his criminal enterprises as long as he only harassed people worse than him and, in return, Terex only pursued Poe halfway across the galaxy and back about half of the time. And mostly, he didn’t catch Poe. But sometimes, he did. And sometimes, Poe let him. But sometimes, too, he let Poe go without catching him at all.

They both pretended Terex still wanted to kill him, thereby letting Terex keep what few shreds of dignity he still had left.

The staggering success of their arrangement had reached the point where even C-3PO’s spy network had begun picking up unusual chatter about mysterious acts of sabotage against FO ships, bases, and supply lines with no one quite understanding what was going on. Poe knew and General Organa—General Organa knew the salient details, sanitized for propriety’s sake, because while Poe might’ve been willing to push boundaries for the Resistance and for himself, he wasn’t willing to go into business with the enemy without telling someone he trusted what he was doing. And he trusted General Organa with just about everything.

The fact that she’d laughed in his face and suggested he be careful playing the flirt just to get a fish on the line had been… surprisingly prescient.

None of them, however, could have anticipated Finn. Poe certainly hadn’t. Some days, Poe still reeled from the enormity of what he felt for Finn and he’d had more than enough time to reconcile himself to it.

Now there was a very real possibility that his and Terex’s agreement was off the table. And at least one portion of it was definitely, _definitely_ off the table forever and Poe wouldn’t negotiate on _that_. Even if he and Finn never…

He just wished Finn didn’t have to witness whatever repartee would be required to get them through the renegotiation unscathed. No doubt Terex wanted blood—hopefully only of the metaphorical variety and hopefully only Poe’s—but from his opening salvo, Poe knew exactly where Terex intended to cut.

It wasn’t how Poe’d wanted to do this, but he’d rather shatter any chance he ever had with Finn than risk Finn’s life over something as ridiculous as Terex having a feeling and weaponizing it. 

After all, Poe’d learned a long time ago to not let his weaknesses become exploitable and here he’d made just that mistake. It was his own fault for not speaking up sooner.

Whether any of the other shaky precepts that had held their working relationship together would remain in place was a question Terex would have to answer… because Poe just didn’t know. As easily as he got inside Terex’s head on most things—it had been an endlessly delightful gift once he realized exactly how and where and when to prod Terex—this bit had always been kind of a mystery to Poe, the bit where Terex actually liked being prodded by Poe.

“I thought we had a deal, Terex,” Poe said, feigning ease and disinterest, stepping forward and not-so-subtly placing himself between the blaster and Finn. He shook his head slightly and willed Terex to understand that whatever there was between them, if Terex so much as put a scratch on Finn, he’d be going down with everything Poe could throw at him.

“We do.” Terex’s head tilted, a thoughtful expression crossing his features. Surprising for him, to be honest. He was usually the sneer first, think about it later, if at all, kind of guy. Maybe he’d grown as a person since the last time they saw one another. “We did.”

Poe fought so very hard to avoid rolling his eyes. He succeeded only slightly. Which, to be honest, was more than he expected to succeed at all. “Oh, please. We can discuss this.”

“We _are_ discussing this.”

Clearing his throat, Finn stepped forward and put his hand on Poe’s shoulder, squeezing. It eased one sort of tension Poe was feeling. And replaced it with another, need and worry swooping hard beneath Poe’s sternum. “Hang on a second,” Finn said, the sound of dawn being realized in his voice. “You’re the guy who was constantly pissing Phasma off, aren’t you?”

“You say that like it’s an accomplishment,” Terex answered, tart, distracted by the question. “I’m reasonably certain that woman was born ‘pissed off.’ I bet even you pissed her off, FN-2187.” He brought his hand up and pressed it against the chest piece of his armor, palm flat to the scratched, yellowing duraplast. “I myself went by TK-603 once upon a time.” He lowered the blaster and smiled at Finn, solicitous and very much like he wanted to sell Finn some nice beachfront property on Scarif. “Did you know she thought you were the best of her soldiers? Even before you really proved yourself to be remarkable, she believed you would be her protégé, her finest achievement. I wish I’d stuck around long enough to see what she thought of you once you defected. I bet it wasn’t very nice.” Then he glanced at Poe, uncowed by the death glare Poe was directing his way, and shrugged, unashamed and unshameable. “What? You think I wouldn’t do a little research on your next inamorato?”

Poe’s lips compressed as he closed his eyes and mentally counted backwards from ten, breathing through his nose. Slowly. To regain some semblance of normalcy in this situation.

It didn’t help. He still wanted a black hole to rip through space-time above his head and suck him out of this realm of existence once he reached zero.

_Inamorato? Of all the…_

“You’ve got it all wrong—” Finn said, because the galaxy’s mission today was clearly to ensure everything went the worst possible way for Poe in every particular. That said, he didn’t have to sound quite so equanimous about the excessively high chances of there never being anything between them. “Poe’s not…”

“Finn,” Poe said weakly, too late to stop the chum from hitting the water and sparking the formation of a shark’s wide, predatory grin on Terex’s mouth. And, oh, when that happened? It was _on_. L’ulo once told him that the only way to deweaponize something was to make the weapon useless. Well, he could certainly do that. “What he’s trying to say is I have feelings for you. And unfortunately he’s not wrong.”

It was impossible not to look at Finn as he admitted it and Poe couldn’t decide if that was a good, honest, brave thing to do from the look of sheer alarm and… pain, a flash of there-and-gone pain—he never would have seen it if he wasn’t gauging Finn’s reaction so closely—that crossed Finn’s face. A crumpling of features that quickly, evenly, and remorselessly slammed into a blank stare so empty a bare wall would have been more expressive. “Oh,” he said. “Unfortunately.”

Terex raised his hand to his mouth, thumbing his chin, a sober, utter lie of a barely amused smile settling on his lips. Inside, the guy was laughing his ass off at Poe’s misfortune, reveling in it. Because that was the kind of man he was.

And he wasn’t even wrong to do it. Poe was making a bigger mess of things than Terex would have.

Flushing, and mentally kicking himself, Poe reached for Finn, only to have Finn twist and take a step back to avoid contact. “Not unfortunately _for me_ ,” Poe said. “I like having feelings for you?” _Oh, stars, shut up, Dameron. You’re making it worse_. “I just meant—I know you don’t…”

“Don’t what?” Finn asked, sharp, his eyes narrowing.

Terex stepped forward and dared to grab both of them by the shoulders, a laugh in his voice. Worse, Finn actually let Terex touch him. “Oh, isn’t this adorable? You didn’t know.” He looked at Poe then, a twinkle in his eye. “It looks like I’m doing you a favor, Commander. That’s lovely, wouldn’t you say?”

Wrenching his arm free, Poe considered decking him and squeezed his hand into a fist a few times until he knew for sure he wouldn’t. “The only favor you can do me now is letting us go.”

“Oh, that’s not true at all,” Terex said, breezy. “I’ve actually been doing you a favor this whole time.” He glanced at the chronometer on his wrist. “First Order patrols are _so_ inconvenient, I’ve found. Luckily, some of us have cloaking devices on our ships. But you should be safe now.”

“What?” both Poe and Finn said at the same time. It seemed quicker than asking all the other questions that flitted through Poe’s mind. Like, “why?” and, “how did you even know where to find us?” and, “where exactly is this cloaking device of yours anyway and can I steal it?” Whether Finn had questions of his own, Poe couldn’t say. Probably he did. Poe would if he was in Finn’s position. Starting with, “what the fuck?” and ending with, “seriously, what the _fuck_?”

“I’ll be honest, Commander, the sex just wasn’t as much fun as the chase.” Terex fiddled with the sleeve of the sleek, black shirt he wore beneath his armor. “I didn’t have the heart to tell you.”

“I didn’t know you had a heart.” Poe couldn’t decide if he was relieved or mortified. Possibly both, but he pretended he was neither. “I guess that’s settled then.”

Terex’s gaze flicked to Finn’s face. “I’m not sure it is, but I’m going to leave you both to it.” Stepping back, he gestured toward the door at the back of the bay. “Have fun. And do be careful out there.” Walking backwards toward it, he shooed them toward their shuttle. “And Commander? Next time I won’t go so easy on you.”

“I wasn’t expecting it this time, Terex,” he shouted back. Though in his mind, he added, _and I wouldn’t call this easy_.

“I happen to dislike it very much when the First Order steps into my territory,” Terex replied, slamming his fist against the button next to the door with a degree of violence Poe found excessive. The sound of it clanged through the docking bay and reverberated back. Poe chose not to comment. “That’s all.”

Sighing, Poe said, “Lucky us.”

The door shut behind Terex, leaving Poe very much alone with Finn and desperately in need of a place to slink off to in order to patch up whatever traces of respectability he might still be able to find within himself. “So, uh,” he said, heat blazing up the back of his neck, “that was Terex.”

“Your—ex,” Finn said, clearly unimpressed.

“He’s not anything,” Poe said, fierce, because it was true. Or true enough. Poe couldn’t codify what Terex was, couldn’t put him in a box, couldn’t explain or describe their relationship. But he knew they’d never been together except in the physical sense.

Finn shook his head and strode toward the shuttle. Poe could do nothing except trail after him, his blood thudding in his ears, heart pounding in his chest. Cold sweat prickled on his palms and down his back. “Finn,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Finn asked, still ahead of Poe, not willing to look back at him as the hatch opened. But even though Poe couldn’t see his face and judge his reaction that way, he heard a softening in Finn’s voice that boded well. Or at least didn’t bode disaster.

“I don’t know,” Poe admitted. Now, it seemed ridiculous that he hadn’t just admitted everything to Finn. He was a grown man; he’d been rejected before and survived it. It wouldn’t have been any different with Finn.

It didn’t matter that it _felt_ like it would have been different.

“But you do?” Finn finally turned once he was in the back of the shuttle. “Have feelings for me?”

Drawing in a sharp, deep breath, Poe nodded and stepped inside, too. Finn hadn’t left much room between himself and the hatch and Poe felt crowded, especially once the hatch closed and Finn was still standing between him and his ability to get them the hell out of there. “A lot of ’em, buddy,” he said, self-deprecating, hoping to cut through some of the tension with a bit of light humo…

Finn took a step forward, undoing whatever stride Poe had made to that effect with his closer proximity. Poe warmed all over and would have loosened his collar if there was room to move and Finn wasn’t staring at him with such earnest, serious attention—like he was seeing Poe for the first time and _liked what he saw_.

 _You’re so screwed, Dameron. Now you’re just inventing bullshit to make yourself feel better_.

“So if I kissed you?” Finn asked, his eyes falling to Poe’s mouth. Poe had imagined such a look a thousand times over the past year or so and his own imagination hadn’t done it the least bit of justice.

Poe’s throat clicked, dry, as he swallowed. _Holy shit._ “I’d be oka—”

The comms crackled to life and startled Poe enough that he banged his head against the hatch and bit off a curse. “Will you get off of my ship?” Terex said, his voice tinny through the speakers, doing a far better job of breaking the tension than Poe’d done.

If there was a verbal equivalent to being doused in cold water, Terex’s whining would definitely be it.

“I guess I should…” Poe waved weakly at the cockpit.

“Yeah.” Finn smiled, amusement warming the brown of his eyes. “You should.”

Avoiding the urge to squirm, Poe slipped around Finn, unable to resist clasping him on the arm briefly as he passed, an old gesture made new.

“You know,” Finn called, “I don’t have a nemesis here to tell you I like you on my behalf, but I like you, too.”

“Pfft. You don’t even have a nemesis,” Poe replied, dragging the safety harness over his arms and snapping the locks into place. Wrapping one hand around the controls as he flipped switches, the shuttle humming to life around them, he smiled. “We should work on that though. They’re fun. Keep you on your toes. On the other hand, you can come up here and tell me what kind of date you want me to take you on when we get back to base.” Might as well go in for the whole credit chit. He’d already wasted so much time.

“Date, huh?” Finn clamored into his seat and threw a grin Poe’s way. “I like the sound of that.”

“Me, too,” Poe answered, cheery, and if Poe—entirely by accident, of course—engaged the thrusters just a little bit prematurely, leaving behind a scorch mark on the docking bay floor for Terex to trouble himself with…

It was only because Terex absolutely deserved it.


End file.
